Page 12 of Lighting Up Christmas

But what did Zhang Shi feel as he worked his mineral rich land climbing up an extinct volcanic range? Her breath snagged in her throat, pressed on her chest. He’d lived in so many different countries and cities and had bought a property hundreds of miles from his home and work. He lived nowhere full time. Was he far from friends and family?

She saw her eyes widen as she stared at her reflection.

Why had he done it?

“How did you personalize the light fixture for your friend?” Zhang asked, and Riley heard an unexpected current of curiosity.

“That’s private,” Riley said firmly. “When I get a commission, I personalize the light to what I think will best reflect my friend or client.”

What would she create if he asked her to create a light from the beginning?

What would suit him?

Riley was only beginning to get an inkling, and the flare of interest was visceral. She really wanted to create something for him that no one else would or could. She had no idea what yet, but she really, really wanted to find out.

Chapter Three

“So how doyou intend to personalize it for me?”

Zhang removed his specially polarized aviators.

He liked that she was tall. That he could look directly into her warm, greenish eyes that reminded him of summer. He now understood that trite phrase “her face was an open book.” He could practically read her mind.

He had a strong feeling that what you saw was what you got, but couldn’t that same thing be said of his mother? Of Brin?

And he hadn’t fared well in either relationship.

But this was not a relationship.

It was a short sales transaction that he was purposely dragging out when he had so many other things demanding his attention. And he had no idea how to choose between five different lights—similar but different.

“I’ll take all of them.”

“All?” she parroted, eyes huge like Quest—the anime character he’d created for the pilot of his first video game when he’d been fourteen, a supposed prodigy. She actually looked like Quest, and the resemblance had been unnerving him since she’d appeared out of nowhere and blocked his escape in his truck.

She was his prototype come to life.

Spooky. Intriguing.

Was this what had happened to his grandfather to turn him inward, away from life? Was this fantasy and reality blurring how it had begun? He wasn’t ready. He had too much he still wanted to accomplish.

She must not want to sell all of them to him. And what would he use all five for? His business partner Jackson, luckily his opposite in most things, would like one.

“You think that is excessive?” He dragged his attention from her appearance, not wanting to freak her out, which his focused eye contact had done to many people since he’d been a kid, only one of the reasons he often wore shades. “You need to keep some stock? I’ll take three. One for the wine bar, one for the house, and one for my business partner, Jackson.”

“Which ones?”

He liked her smile. It was impish, like they were sharing an inside joke.

Something inside him cracked a little. No. No. No. He didn’t want to open himself up. Not again. It was always a disaster. And each time it was harder to heal the wound so that he could focus and function again.

“The one with the pebbles and two others.”

“You really have no preference?” Riley pursed her lips and regarded each of the lights. “They are quite different. This one is more natural wood, just a clear polyurethane stain. It’s more modern, sleek and austere. This one with copper wires wrapping a few tips of the roots is more massive, so when choosing the lights, you’d want to have an idea of the space and the type of bulbs you want to have hanging down—and the length of the pendant lights.”

She talked a lot, voicing each thought out loud, where he could go hours, maybe days without speaking and be content.

“I don’t need a pity sale.” She spun and glared. “I designed the lights differently, hoping to appeal to different tastes and different spaces. They were imaginative, springing from nature and the landscape. I used materials I’d found, materials on hand from the place where I found them. I pictured them speaking to different people and finding different homes.”

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